Neddy (a man’s name)

A contraction and diminutive of Mine Edward—Mine Eddy, My NʹEddy. Teddy, is the French tu, toi, form; and Neddy the nunation form. (Edʹ, Ted, Ned.)

Neddy. A donkey; a low cart used in Dublin; so called because its jolting keeps the riders eternally nodding.

“The ‘Set-downʹ was succeeded by the Noddy, so called from its oscillating motion backwards and forwards.”—Sketches of Ireland (1847).

Neddy. A dunce; a euphemism for “an ass.”

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.